Back in 2014, guitarist Andy Alt launched a Kickstarter for an electric guitar pickup that added a separate drop-octave signal to the instrument's lowest strings, The crowdfunding campaign was successful and A Little Thunder started shipping mid-2015. Now version two has been released.
The latest version of A Little Thunder allows a player to add a one or two octave-down bass signal to the guitar's lowest strings while simultaneously retaining the standard signals from all six strings. In short, it gives guitarists the ability to play electric guitar and bass on the same instrument at the same time – good for solo artists and street performers, or musicians looking to add something special to their performances.
A Low Note Priority mode can auto register the lowest note and give only that string some added low end thunder, so you can strum away and still get a clean bass sound. Or the guitarist can opt to have the pickup track one, two or three strings through software tweaking, which can also activate a stereo humbucker mode, set up sound combos and more. And tone control can be hard-wired to push/pull pots if so desired.
The version two (V2) blade-style humbucker features a new digital signal processor and multi-input codec, has twice the capacitive touch capability of previous generation, and comes with Bluetooth 4.2 cooked in. (for wirelessly updating firmware).
And there's more to come. "The pickup is a platform capable of running new sounds that no pedal can do, and no traditional pickup can perform," Alt told New Atlas. "It’s going to execute things beyond effects and get into AI learning space from our newly issued patents."
The integrated lithium polymer battery is reported good for 12 hours and is recharged over microUSB. And Alt is promising a lag-free bass sound experience, which is validated by Texas guitar slinger Billy Gibbons, who has been using V2 on tour.
A Little Thunder Version 2 is on sale now for US$299. The video below has more.
Source: A Little Thunder